The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-01-18
THE CHlNOOkS.
Horrible Customs OF tho Tribe Be-
fore Conversion.

Il
believe in times past that the Indian
could not be civilized. but | have lived
to see that assertion demonstrated to be
false. | have seen O number of these
aborigines struggle for years to get out
of wild state. and now that they have
reached the goal, l see them attacked
by the authorities of an ecclesiastical
body, and their country and they are
Frustrated. When | was young theo-
logical student in London, news came
to us of the barbarous character of
these natives, and / accepted the call to
60 and try and civilize them. l reached
Victoria, and was told by the governor
there that it was certain death to go
among these people, but was not dis
suaded and performed the journey to
Fort Simpson, and my first sight of the
people was while they were engaged in
numbering medicine man on the
beach. The next day man who had
offended the chief was taken away and
burned to death, and on the third day l
witnessed a remarkable scene. The
daughter of one of the chiefs was taken
i'll, and TO save her, aslave-a woman
was brought out for execution. She
was killed on the beach and thrown
into the sea. The body was soon taken
out. and present. ytwo sets of medicine
men came out entirely naked and
pranced down toward the body. After
sharp struggle the body was torn in
two and the men carried it away in
their teeth with many grimaces, and it
was finally eaten. Thus saw that
every death was made double. for the
chiefs daughter subsequently died"
Mr.. Duncan said he then set out to
learn the language of these barbaric
people. He got one of the tribe to 60
to the fort and by system of gestures
and object lessons he succeeded in get
ting the names for different things, and
after eight months succeeded in master
ing the language. lie then went among
the people and established school,
where he soon got number of con-
vcrts.
1--WE had for our school-house log
cabin and piece of steel hung outside
for bell, which was struck when we
wanted the people to come One day
the chiefs wife came to me and told
me not to strike the steel, but told her
| should. She tried to persuade me
not TO do so, but finding ] was detcrm-
ined TO do it she went away. When |
did strike it found that the house was
soon surrounded by the Indians, who
drove away the children and then told
me was going to be killed. | certain
ly saw no escape, when man stepped
up with pistol in his hand and told the
man who was going to kill me that l
must not be touched. 1t was the same
man who taught me the Chinook Ian
guage. The matter was gu eted for Il
friends around the fort away by them
selves. so we moved across the bay and
founded the little settlement of Mctlak-
ahtla."
Superstition, of course, formed the
principle Of all their beliefs, and the
medicine men were considered almighty
until they failed to make cure, and
then they were killed. As an instance
of the pride of the race, he told story
about how the wife of one of the chiefs
had been told in a neighboring tribe
that she did not come from Il long line
of chiefs, but was what is called in this
country parvenu. She went home
and told her husband of the faint, rs
they call it, which had been put on her
name, and then began the work of re-
moving the faint. First the woman was
decked out in all her iincry, and when
a large fire had been made she was car
ried on a blanket, placed on the fire and
burned to death. This removed the
faint, but the revenge followed. The
braves of the neighboring tribe
who had insulted the woman. were
invited TO her husbands house to
feast. The doors are low, and as each
guest entered he was stabbed and
thrown into pit in the middle Of the
hut. While this was going on the wo-
men of the tribe stood about the house
and sang songs, so that the groans OF
the wounded could not be heard and the